Why It’s Right and Righteous to Drive Fascists Off Campus!

August 7, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

In recent months students and others have protested against and in some cases shut down fascist, racist speakers on campuses. On March 2, hundreds of students at Vermont’s Middlebury College shouted down Charles Murray—a notoriously racist author. On April 26, Ann Coulter, in the face of protest and controversy, canceled a speech she planned at UC Berkeley. On June 15, at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, 200 students, professors, and others protested and stood their ground against several dozen white supremacist, fascist, pro-Trump goons.

As Sunsara Taylor said in an article on www.revcom.us defending the students who protested at Middlebury:

Powerful institutions are funneling millions of dollars into backing fascists like Ann Coulter, Milo Yiannopoulos, David Horowitz, and others to spew their poison, normalize their bigotry, and whip up foot-soldiers on campuses nationwide. McCarthyite Professor Watchlists have been drawn up against professors who challenge white supremacy, patriarchy, and the ruling-class narrative of “American Greatness.” And, students who stand up against this are being increasingly demonized and punished. Right now, several states are considering legislation that would legally mandate the punishment—including, in some cases, expulsion—of students who dare to disrupt a campus speaker. Just a week ago, Vice President Mike Pence made condemning disruptive student protests a central theme while giving the commencement address at Notre Dame.

The fascists are targeting the campuses precisely because they rely on the assertion of reactionary myths—LIES—which they do not want challenged. They fear critical thinking. And they fear the role that students have often played in challenging injustice and oppression—from the Freedom Rides to the fight against the Vietnam War to the waves of protests following Trump’s election to the righteous shut-downs of Charles Murray, Milo Yiannopoulos, and others in recent months. These fascists see the pacification of the campuses as a key step in consolidating fascism in America.

All this underscores even more profoundly the righteousness of what the students at Middlebury did and the illegitimacy and dangerous precedent of them being punished. The Middlebury protesters should be upheld, defended, and their righteous spirit should be spread. As white supremacy rides high and the fascist Trump/Pence Regime moves fast to remake the laws, attack the press, and knock down any who would stand up against them, many, many more people from all walks of life need to join in raising their voices and putting their bodies, their careers, and their reputations on the line to drive fascists off their campuses, out of their towns, and out of the White House. (“The Students Were RIGHT, Middlebury College is WRONG! Charles Murray and His Ilk Should Absolutely Be Shut Down and Driven from Campuses”)

Students are now returning to campuses and this whole controversy and struggle will only get sharper. And there is a lot at stake in waging the battle against these fascists on campus AND defending those doing this. Middlebury College has punished 67 students who participated in shutting down and driving out Charles Murray. And at Claremont McKenna College, three students were suspended for a year and two others suspended for a semester for staging a non-violent protest against white supremacist and fascist Heather Mac Donald. At least eight professors on different U.S. college campuses have been the target of death threats and harassment from pro-Trump white supremacists, misogynists, and Nazis.

As part of getting clear on and getting ready as this battle continues, we encourage people to watch the video of a talk Sunsara Taylor gave at UC Berkeley (right).

Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.